Privacy Policy
Service for Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots of the Presidency
Data Protection Notice
The Service for Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots of the Presidency (hereinafter referred to as "Service of Diaspora Cypriots” or "we") is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a transparent and lawful manner.
This privacy notice relates to the personal data the Service of Diaspora Cypriots collects from you as a data controller when you use the platform www.diaspora.gov.cy (the "Platform") either to browse the Learn your Roots (Mathe tis Rizes sou) section, or to register on the Registry of Diaspora Cypriots through the Registration of Diaspora Cypriots section of the Platform (the "Registration Section”).
This data protection notice:
§ is addressed to natural persons who are: a) Cypriot expatriates whose details are recorded in the Registration Section and/or b) other users or visitors of the Platform and the Registration Section, and/or c) persons participating or depicted or displayed or referred to in the content of the Learn your Roots (Mathe tis Rizes sou) section.
§ provides important information about the personal data we collect, what we do with such personal data, with whom we may share it and why, and your rights in relation to the personal data you have given us.
For the purposes of this data protection notice:
§ when we refer to "Cypriot expatriates" or "expatriates" or "Cypriots of the Diaspora", we mean Cypriots living abroad or citizens of other countries with Cypriot origin residing outside the Republic of Cyprus for more than ten (10) years and their children.
§ when we refer to "personal data", we mean data that identifies or can identify you and which may include, for example, your name, telephone number, email address, year of birth, occupation and marital status.
§ when we refer to "sensitive data", we mean special categories of personal data that uniquely identify an individual. The GDPR considers the following categories of personal data to be sensitive: (1) racial or ethnic origin, (2) political opinions, (3) religious and philosophical beliefs, (4) trade union membership, (5) sex life or sexual orientation, (6) physical or mental health or condition, and (7) genetic and biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person.
§ when we refer to "processing”, we mean our handling of your personal data, including the collection, protection and storage of your personal data.
§ when we refer to "our" or "Service of Diaspora Cypriots" or when we say "we", we mean the Service for Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots of the Presidency as described in paragraph 1 below, which acts as a data controller in relation to the personal data you submit on the Registration Section or the personal data we collect about you when you visit our Platform.
1. Who we are - Service for Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots of the Presidency
The Service of Diaspora Cypriots constitutes the main connection pillar between Cyprus and its Diaspora, since through the World Organizations of Cyprus in every country where Cypriots live and work, it ensures continuous and close contact with Cypriots of the Diaspora, contributing to the preservation of our identity, traditions and culture in the countries where Cypriot expatriates reside and are active.
The Service of Diaspora Cypriots was transferred, by decision of the Council of Ministers (no. 81.431 and dated 18/10/16), from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Presidency under the supervision of the Presidential Commissioner. Matters concerning it are therefore dealt with by the Presidency.
This data protection notice concerns personal data collected and processed by the Service of Diaspora Cypriots through the Platform and the Registration Section.
If you have any questions about our data protection notice or wish to receive more information about the personal data concerning you that we hold and process, please contact our Data Protection Officer in writing at 56, Kyriakou Matsi Avenue, 3th floor, 1082, Nicosia, Cyprus or by email at dataprotect@presidency.gov.cy or by calling at 22400125/102.
2. How we collect your personal data
We receive your personal data primarily through any information you provide directly to us or through information provided by third parties. Please see below a list of the ways in which we collect your personal data:
(a) Personal data collected directly from you, including:
- when you register on the Platform;
- when you visit the Learn your Roots (Mathe tis Rizes sou) section;
- when you choose to register on the Registry of Diaspora Cypriots;
- when you contact us either by email or by phone to review and/or update the information you have submitted when registering on the Registration Section;
- when you participate in or contact us through our social media accounts, and
- when you contact us for a question, complaint or for any other reason.
(b) Personal data collected from other sources, such as:
· through third parties, e.g. through your parents or children who may enter your information as children or parent data when registering on the Registry of Diaspora Cypriots.
· Through partners such as agents and other companies such as content creators who help us promote our actions, including through preparing the content of the Learn your Roots (Mathe tis Rizes sou) section of the Platform.
3. What personal data we collect
When you register on the Registration Section and/or the Registry of Diaspora Cypriots, we may process the following personal data about you:
· Identification information such as your name, gender, place of residence, nationality and year of birth.
· Origin data such as your place of birth and/or refugee status, family roots from Cyprus and the year of your last visit to Cyprus.
· Contact information such as your phone number and email address.
· Information about your professional status or training, your academic education and level of education such as your level of education or your professional field and/or your level of knowledge of the Greek language.
· Information about your marital status, such as the number of your children and the year of their birth.
· Details of your participation in organizations, associations or fraternities of Cypriot expatriates in your country of residence.
When you participate in any of our activities or events or are featured in content of the Learn your Roots (Mathe tis Rizes sou) section of the Platform, we may process information such as your photograph or your full name or voice and/or other information about you.
When you navigate our Platform, we will process data about you that we collect through: cookies. For more information about such data you can visit the cookie policy.
In addition, we may collect and process any data you may provide to us in communications you may have had with us either by phone or email.
4. Why do we need your personal data?
4.1 Personal data
We will use your personal data in the following cases:
(α) For the creation of a Registry of Diaspora Cypriots through the registration of Cypriot expatriates.
When you register on the Registration Section as a Cypriot of the Diaspora and you fill in the registration form with your details, we will process this information in order to register you in the Registry of Diaspora Cypriots which aims at the quantitative and qualitative recording of Cypriots of the Diaspora. The creation of the registry and the processing of data for this purpose is necessary for the fulfilment of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of public authority entrusted to us, on the basis of the decision of the Council of Ministers No. 94.482 dated 22/02/2023.
(β) For the creation of a catalogue of Cypriot scientists living abroad.
When you register on the Registration Section as a Cypriot of the Diaspora and fill in the registration form with your details, we will process the information concerning your professional training and education in order to create a list of Cypriot scientists living abroad so that flexible and effective ways of cooperation are found between Cypriot scientists of the Diaspora and scientists within the Republic of Cyprus, depending on the field to which you belong. The creation of the registry and the processing of data for this purpose is necessary for the fulfilment of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of public authority entrusted to us, based on the decision of the Council of Ministers no. 94.482 dated 22/02/2023.
(γ) For the creation of a list of refugees of Cypriots of the Diaspora
When you register on the Registration Section as a Cypriot of the Diaspora and you declare in the registration form that you are a refugee, we will process this information to create a list of Cypriot refugees of the Diaspora. The creation of this list and the processing of data for this purpose is necessary for the fulfilment of a task performed in the public interest or in the exercise of public authority entrusted to us, on the basis of the decision of the Council of Ministers No. 94.482 dated 22/02/2023.
(δ) To create reports/statements regarding Cypriot expatriates.
We may use the information you submit in the registration form to create reports or statements such as lists of Cypriot of the Diaspora by country of residence, gender, profession, etc. The creation of reports/statements and the processing of data for this purpose is necessary for the fulfilment of a task performed in the public interest or in the exercise of public authority entrusted to us, based on the decision of the Council of Ministers no. 94.482 dated 22/02/2023.
(ε) Where you have given us your consent.
We will use your contact details to establish a communication channel between Cypriot expatriates and the Service of Diaspora Cypriots on issues concerning Cypriots of the Diaspora, where we have obtained your prior consent.
We will transfer your personal data to the federation of Cypriots of your country of residence where we have your consent to do so and after ensuring, by signing standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data (where required), that such federation complies with European data protection standards and provides appropriate safeguards in relation to the transfer of your data in accordance with the GDPR.
We may ask for your consent in order to use and process your information to create and promote the content of the Learn your Roots (Mathe tis Rizes sou) section.
You may withdraw your consent to the forms of processing described in this paragraph (d) at any time. Please note that the lawfulness of any processing carried out prior to the withdrawal of your consent is not affected in any way.
If you wish to withdraw your consent, you must inform our Data Protection Officer in writing at 56, Kyriakou Matsi Avenue, 3th floor, 1082, Nicosia, Cyprus or by email at dataprotect@presidency.gov.cy
4.2 Sensitive data
In general, the Service of Diaspora Cypriots will not process sensitive data concerning you beyond your citizenship, which we will collect and process based on the decision of the Council of Ministers no. 94.482 dated 22/02/2023.
5. With whom we may share your personal data
We may share your personal data with third parties as set out below. When we do so, we ask these third parties to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data. We will not share any of your personal data for any purpose other than the purposes described in this data protection notice.
· Service providers we have selected to assist us with the design and implementation of the Registration Section and who provide technical support and maintenance to the Registration Section.
· Companies hosting and storing the personal data collected through the Registration Section.
· Government and regulatory bodies, so that we can comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, and law enforcement authorities in connection with their investigations or procedures.
· Partners such as agents and other companies who help us promote our activities, including preparing the content of the Learn your Roots (Mathe tis Rizes sou) section of the Platform.
Although we do not share your personal data with recipients located in third countries (i.e. countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA)), in case we do so, we will require recipients in third countries to comply with European data protection standards and provide appropriate safeguards in relation to the transfer of your data in accordance with the GDPR.
The above also applies if you choose to share your personal data with one of the following federations depending on your country of residence:
• National Federation of Cypriots in the United Kingdom
• Cyprus Federation of South Africa
• Cyprus Federation of America
• Federation of Cyprus Communities of Australia and New Zealand
• Cyprus Federation of Rest of Africa (based in Zimbabwe)
• Federation of Cypriot Organisations in Greece
• Federation of Overseas Cypriots Rest of Europe (based in France)
• Cypriot Federation of Canada
6. Safeguarding your data
We use a range of administrative, technical and technological measures to keep your information secure in both physical and electronic form. We require our staff and any third party performing any work on our behalf or on our premises or servers to comply with appropriate compliance standards, including information security obligations and implementing appropriate measures for the use and transfer of information.
Some of the technical measures we implement include the following:
1) Measures for pseudonymization and encryption of personal data;
2) Appointment of a security officer;
3) Provision of appropriate staff training according to duties;
4) Installation and use of perimeter security (firewalls),
5) Use of secure open source technology that offers protection against a large set of malicious attacks;
6) We follow the "Secure by Design” practice,
7) The personal data collected through the Platform are stored on servers in a secure location in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, certified with the ISO 27001 standard,
8) Internet access to the Platform is via HTTPs that offers encrypted communication between servers and users,
9) Classified access and determination of access rights of administrative users of the Platform are applied;
10) The administrative access and consequently the complete access to the database of the Platform is granted only to specific administrative users using a secure password and only through specific computers located in a secure location,
11) Service Digital Footprint (DKIM – DomainKeys Identified Mail),
12) Immediate administrator notification service for any user actions that do not comply with the settings/policies of the Platform.
7. How long we keep your personal data (retention)
Every five (5) years you will be asked to update the information we hold about you. If you do not update your information within a reasonable time, the Service of Diaspora Cypriots will delete your account and the personal data it holds about you.
8. Your rights
You have the following rights with respect to the personal data and information we hold about you:
· To receive access to your personal data. This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to find out how we lawfully process it.
· Request the correction of your personal data that we hold. This enables you to correct any incomplete, inaccurate or outdated information about you.
· Request the deletion of your personal data. This enables you to request that we delete or remove your personal data when there is no valid reason for us to continue processing it.
· Object to the processing of your personal data. In such a case, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights and freedoms.
· Request the restriction of the processing of your personal data. This allows you to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in cases such as when:
o it is not accurate,
o it is no longer relevant, but you want us to keep it for use in potential legal claims concerning you;
o you have already requested that we stop using your personal data, but you are waiting for us to confirm whether we have legitimate grounds to use your data.
· Request a copy personal data concerning you in a format that can be easily reused or request the transfer of such data to other organizations.
· Withdraw the consent you have given us regarding the processing of your personal data for specific purposes, such as to allow us to forward your data to a specific federation abroad.
To exercise any of your rights, or if you have any other questions about our use of your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the contact details set out in paragraph 1 of this data protection notice.
Accuracy of personal information: We strive to keep all personal data we collect accurate, complete and up to date taking into account the purposes for which it was collected and used.
We rely on you to maintain the accuracy and completeness of your personal data and therefore we will expect you to notify us when the personal information you provided to us when completing your registration form change in any way.
9. Right to lodge a complaint
If you have exercised any or all of your rights to the protection of your personal data or continue to believe that your concerns about the use of your personal data have not been adequately addressed by us, you have the right to lodge a complaint with us by contacting our Data Protection Officer using the contact details set out in paragraph 1 of this data protection notice.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection. You can visit their website at https://www.dataprotection.gov.cy.
10. Changes to this privacy policy
We may update this statement from time to time by posting any revisions on the Platform and updating the revision date at the bottom of it. When material revisions are made, we may notify interested individuals immediately or we may post a prominent statement. We encourage you, however, to review this statement periodically so that you are always aware of how we process and protect your personal information.
11. Automated Decision Making
We do not make automated decision-making. Automated decision-making means a decision that produces legal effects concerning you or significantly affects you and which is based solely on automated data processing (i.e. there is no human intervention in the process).